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Cal State signs baseball players

Cal State San Bernardino’s baseball team bolstered its pitching staff for next season by signing three quality community college players to national and CCAA conference letters of intent to play for the Coyotes in 2009-10.

Head Coach Don Parnell said all three figure to be key components of the mound staff for the Coyotes.

The three hurlers are:

Kesler Reifel, a hard-throwing right-hander from Redlands who pitched for Riverside Community College in 2008 and 2009 after transferring from UC Riverside,Lucas Sanford, a 5-11, 190-pound right-hander from Poway who helped Southwestern College of Chula Vista to a 29-14 record, 15-10 in the Pacific Coast Conference in 2009.

Chris Mieszala, a 6-2, 180-pound right-hander from Las Vegas, Nev., who helped Long Beach City College (30-18 overall, 17-7 conference) win the South Coast Conference championship in 2009.

Mieszala was 4-2 with a 2.95 earned run average in 16 appearances for the Vikings in 2009. He made three starts and had one complete game but it was a big one. He scattered seven hits and struck out 10 as the Vikings defeated Cerritos College, 4-3, to clinch the South Coast Conference title on April 30.

He struck out 25 batters in 39 innings of pitching while walking only four. Opponents hit only .243 against him.

Mieszala played his high school ball at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas.

Sanford was 5-4 with a 4.28 earned run average for Southwestern College in 2009. He made 18 appearances, 13 of them starts for a total of 88 innings. He recorded 75 strikeouts and was errorless in the field, handling 23 chances flawlessly. The team finished third in the Pacific Coast Conference. He was a Jaguars teammate of returning CSUSB starter Daniel Stenavich in 2008.

Reifel, a shortstop for most of his prep career at Redlands High School, was a second-team all-Citrus Belt League choice and second-team all-San Bernardino County pick for the Terriers.

He drew attention of pro scouts and college recruiters with his 90 mile-per-hour fastball and was signed as a right-handed pitcher by UC Riverside in 2006 and was on their 2007 roster but did not play..

The 6-1, 185-pounder transferred to RCC and pitched on the 2008 Tigers team. His 2009 season was cut short by arm trouble. He was 0-1 in six appearances, two of them starts with a 6.43 earned run average in just seven innings of work.

Coach Parnell said recent medical tests indicate Reifel’s arm is healthy and he has produced radar gun clockings in the low 90s.

The trio joins returning starters Stenavich, a San Diego resident, and Andrew Schile, a transfer from Chaffey College, both seniors in the fall, along with sophomore Aaron Brooks of San Bernardino (Cajon HS), the CCAA conference freshman of the year in 2009, as Parnell hopes his team will improve on its 23-23 season of 2009.

Erick Carrillo, another starter who had a year of eligibility remaining, passed it up after signing with the Florida Marlins after they drafted him in the 19th round of the June amateur draft.